It's time for the 2nd Annual Franchot Tone Holiday Gift Guide!
This year's picks for that Franchot fan in your life (or, let's be honest, yourself!) are pictured above and include:
Vintage tobacco card - Like many film stars, Franchot was featured on quite a few collectible tobacco cards i read more

I'll conclude my Franchot & Politics series with a look at the 1936 film The Gorgeous Hussy. Directed by Clarence Brown and based on the 1934 novel by Samuel Hopkins Adams, The Gorgeous Hussy was a period piece designed for Joan Crawford in the part of Peggy Eaton. In addition to Crawford, the f read more

When I learned of Pop Culture Reverie's timely Hail to the Chief Blogathon, I knew I had to write about Franchot Tone's portrayal of the fictional U.S. president in Otto Preminger's 1962 drama Advise & Consent. Last costarring with Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman in 1951's Capra film Here Comes read more

For this week's (belated) entry into my Franchot & Politics series, I'd like to share with you some biographical sketches on the political figures of Franchot's maternal family. Franchot's grandfather and great grandfather held Republican seats in the Senate and Congress, respectively. Franchot' read more

I think all classic film enthusiasts have some knowledge about the powerful and predatory House Un-American Activities Committee that used public threats and scare tactics to terrorize the film industry. It would be denounced by former President Truman in the late 50's and lose its control in t read more

Franchot on They Gave Him a Gun set. Original photo from my collection.
While making They Gave Him a Gun in 1937, Franchot was asked about his personality. As he talked about himself, Spencer Tracy and W.S. Van Dyke provided their own humorous interpretations.
Franchot said about himself: read more

Some time ago, I read Dolores Dorn's short e-book Letters from a Hollywood Starlet. Dolores was Franchot's costar in Uncle Vanya as well as his fourth and final wife. I've wanted to write about Dolores' memories of their marriage and my own reflections on this time in Franchot's life for a while now read more

Actor, director, and writer John Strasberg (son of Lee and Paula Strasberg) was Franchot's godson and wrote about Franchot in his 1996 book Accidentally on Purpose:
I don't remember feeling any peace or harmony from the moment we moved back to New York in 1947 until I began spending summers in Can read more

Helen Ferguson as an actress in the 1920's (left) and a
publicist at an event in the early 1960's (right).
Helen Ferguson was an actress-turned-publicist who represented many of classic Hollywood's biggest stars—Barbara Stanwyck, Loretta Young, Henry Fonda, Jeanette MacDonald, and so on. In read more

Recently, I watched the HBO documentary Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt & Anderson Cooper. Although I think there are actually several things unsaid, Gloria's reflections on her life and conversations with son Anderson were fascinating. Gloria does not discuss Franchot at all in the docum read more

Franchot & Christopher in the Alcoa production of Even the Weariest River, 1956.Source: www.fantasfilm.org
Not too many years ago, Christopher Plummer published his autobiography, In Spite of Myself. I greatly admire Mr. Plummer, so much so that I wrote him a letter gushing to him just how much read more

Fresh from the New York stage and with only one film (The Wiser Sex with Claudette Colbert) under his belt, Franchot Tone was assigned the role of Ronnie in the 1933 war drama Today We Live. The leading lady of the picture would be Joan Crawford, flapper-turned-dramatic actress, who was well-respect read more

Franchot was born on this day in 1905. It's hard to believe that he would be 111 years old. Even though I was born years after his death, I always think of Franchot as someone who hasn't been gone that long. I suppose it is because he comes across as so lively and in-the-moment in his work. He also read more

Have a Franchot Tone fan in your life or want to treat yourself to a new Franchot DVD this holiday season? Here are my picks for the movies that should be wrapped under your tree!
Wish you had been able to see Franchot in a live play? Buy the 1957 film Uncle Vanya. The film is staged like read more

In his autobiography, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. who was, of course, married to Joan Crawford when she met Franchot Tone on the set of the 1933 film Today We Live, called Franchot “a fine actor from New York.” Fairbanks, Jr. also said:
Today we would call Tone a concerned citizen—he read more

Since I've had my own gray hair and wrinkles, producers have been willing to recognize me as a character actor.
There was a long spell in Hollywood where I appeared in nothing but bad romantic comedies. They were 'dress suit roles.' Acting talent didn't matter. The important thing was to have read more

"If I ever had an image, it was the playboy, the white tie and tails, the elegant fellow with the good tailor. That was my image for the mass movie audience. But not for the theater audience. They saw me as an actor. Now my television image is the character actor. And then they see my old movies on read more

I’ve never had any setbacks. I’ve always lived in the style to which I’m accustomed. I’ve never been out of work. Most important to me, I have never had to take an acting job that I didn’t want to do.”
-Franchot Tone
Source: "Who Has Ever Had a Be read more

Joan Crawford on why her marriage to Franchot did not last. (To be fair though, Joan is taking quite a bit of the blame, when both Franchot and she contributed to the deterioration of their marriage.)
"Franchot loved the theater and despised Hollywood, and I wasn't as nice to him, or as read more